In addition, four minor programs are offered: in Creative Writing, Literature, Irish Literature, and Film.

Each of these programs is committed to the discovery of meaning and value in language—a commitment that is grounded both in contemporary academic and professional concerns within English and communication studies as well as in humankind’s enduring traditions of self-expression, speculative inquiry, and social communication through literature and the rhetorical arts. In particular, the department’s programs are designed to involve students in challenging and rewarding encounters with literary works representing a variety of types and time periods; to expand students’ awareness of the range, subtlety, and power of language; to help students develop their own expressive powers in language; and to assist them toward increasingly mature syntheses of literature and communications with other life experiences.